Draft-rigging for railway-cars.



No. 682,402. Patented Sept. I0, I90l.

F. H. CLARK.

DBAFT RIGGING FOB RAILWAY CARS.

(Application filed Aug. 20, 1900.

2 Sheets-Sheet I.

(No Model.)

Tn: seams PETERS on. mom-Luau; WASHINGYON. 0v 0.

No. 682,402. Patented Supt. l0, I901. F. H. CLARK;

DRAFT BIGGING FUR RAILWAY. CARS.

(Appliution fllod Aug. 90, 1900. (No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 2.

UNITED STATES nTnNT Trice,

FRANK H. CLARK, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

DRAFT-RIGGING FCR RAlLWAY CARS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 682,402, dated September 10, 1901.

Application filed August 20, 1900. Serial No. 27,408. (No model.)

To 00% whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, FRANK H. CLARK, a citizen 0f the United States, residing at Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Draft-Rigging for Railway- Cars, of which the following is a specification.

The invention relates particularly to the means by which the draw-bar, follower-plates, and spring mechanism are held in position, and especially to the construction and arrangement of the sill-plate or draft-arm by which the end sill is supported and the follower-plates, springs, &c. are held and guided in position, all of which will more fully hereinafter appear.

The principal object of the invention is to provide a draft-rigging with a simple, economical, and efficient sill-plate that will obviate the necessity of cutting and which is arranged to support the end sill in position; and the invention consists in the features, combinations, and details of construction hereinafter described and claimed.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a plan view of a draft-rigging known as the Miner draft-rigging, constructed and arranged in accordance with myimprovements, looking at it from the top; Fig. 2, a longitudinal sectional elevation, taken on line 2 of Fig. 1, looking in the direction of the arrow and showing the sill-plate and carry-iron in position, with all the other parts removed; and Fig. 3, a perspective view of the sill-plate removed from its connection with the end and longitudinal sills looking at it from the front or inner side.

In the art to which this invention relates it is well known that the usual end sills are mortised to receive the ends of the longitudinal sills and that in the case of low-hun g cars the draw-bar cuts through the end sill, which is also bored for the purpose of passing the truss-rod through the same, all of which very much weakens the end sill. The weakest dimension of such sill as usually arranged is horizontal, although its greatest required strength, in order to distribute the shocks of buffi'ng and pulling and take the strains of the truss-rods, is horizontal.

The principal object, therefore, of this invention is to provide a draft-rigging which will dispense with the necessity of mortising the end sills and which will support such end sills efficiently in position and in line to give the horizontal the greatest strength and at thesame time permit the draw-bar or draftrigging to be used in low-hung cars without cutting through the same, all of which will more fully hereinafter appear.

In illustrating and describing my improvements I have only illustrated and described that which I consider to be new, taken in connection with so much that is old as will prop erly disclose the invention and enable those skilled in the art to practice the same, leavingout of consideration other and well-known mechanisms which if described here would only tend to confusion, proliXity, and ambiguity. It will also appear from an examination of the drawings and the following description thatI have shown myimprovements in connection with but one type of draft-rigging; but it will be understood that it is applicable to almost any draft-gear with very slight changes in construction and arrangement, such as may be made with the use of ordinary mechanical skill and without departing from the spirit of the invention.

In constructing my improvements 1 use the ordinary longitudinal center sills (It a, arranged, as suggested, at or near and in line with the longitudinal center of the car. These longitudinal sills abut against the end sills Z2, one only of which is shown, and which may be arranged so that its major diameter in cross section is in a horizontal plane, as clearly shown in Fig. 2. The upper portion of this end sill is arranged, preferably, in the same horizontal plane with the upper surface of the longitudinal sills, and outside of the end sill is arranged the ordinary buffiing-timher 0, provided with a wear-plate d. The buffing-timber is held in position by means of bolts e, which are secured to and embedded in the longitudinal sills and pass through the end sill and buffing-timbers. Truss-rods. of the usual construction and arrangement (not shown) are used and passed through each from end sill to end sill, with nuts on the outside, so as to tie such end sills together, and thus assist in distributing the stress and strains incident to use throughout the car.

In order to hold the end sill in position as above outlined and to carry the draft-rigging in a simple, economical, and efficient manner, two sill-plates or draft-arms g are provided, one on each longitudinal sill,having flanges h,which are passed underneath the lon= gitudinal sill and secured in position by means of bolts 1', and having flanges j extending upwardly therefrom and secured to the sides of the longitudinal sills by means of bolts 16. These sill-plates are provided with forwardlyextending portions Z, having shoulder-flanges m extending upwardly at right angles therefrom at a desired distance back of the front end of the extending portion. This front extending portion, with its shoulder flange, forms a bracket or seat, in which the end sill b may be placed and on which it may be supported, which acts to keep it from tipping over or pointing downward, and thus materially assists in presenting the strongest crosssection of the end sill to resist the shocks of buffingand pulling and in taking up the major portion of the strains of the truss-rods.

A draw-bar n of the usual construction is provided and rests upon the usual carry-iron t. It is also provided with a strap 0, passed backwardly and around the springs 19 and q, while its follower-plates r are movably held in position in seats or pockets 8 of the sill= plate, all of which is old, well known, and thoroughly understood by those skilled in the art, and therefore needs no further detailed description here. The back side of the sillplate, 'Fig. 2, is provided with the horizontal flange h, above referred to, by which it is secured to the under side of thelongitudinal sill, and in addition to, this flange is provided with a vertical flange u, arranged to abut against the end of the longitudinal sill, so that the longitudinal sill in a measure absorbs part of the bufling strains.

The principal advantages incident to the use of my improvements are, first, the sillplates or draft-arms are extended underneath, so as to carry the end sill on a bracket, thus performing the office of a sill-pocket and avoiding the necessity of mortising the center sills into the end sill; second, all pulling strains are directly against the end sills, as well'as the center sills, and through the end sill are distributed to all the sills in the car; third, the strains of buffing are transmitted through the end sill by the horn-block of the coupler directly to the center and all of the sills; fourth, the buffing is, however, also carried by the sill-plates directly against the ends of the center sills; fifth, the construction permits the use of a shallow but wide and deep sill, thus avoiding on low-hung cars cutting through or notching and weakening the end sill for the draw-bar, and, sixth, the usual end sill of seven by eight to eleven inches in cross-section can be used with its major diameter horizontal and in the line of greatest required strength.

I claim 1. The combination with a longitudinal sill,

and an end sill the major diameterof the cross-section of which is arranged in a horizontal plane and the bottom face of which lies in a plane above the bottom face of the longitudinal sill, of a sill-plate secured to said longitudinal sill and a part of the body of which extends up beside said longitudinal sill, said plate having a part extending forwardly above the plane of the bottom of the longitudinal sill and beneath and supporting said end sill, substantially as described.

2. The combination with longitudinal sills, and an end sill the bottom face of which lies in a plane above the bottom faces of the longitudinal sills, of opposite sill-plates a part of the bodies of which plates extend up between and are secured to said longitudinal'sills, said plates having parts extending forwardly above the plane of the bottoms of the longitudinal sills and beneath and supporting said end sill, substantially as described.

3. In mechanisms of the class described,the combination of longitudinal sills, an end sill arranged so as to abut against the end thereof and with its major diameter arranged in a horizontal plane, whereby the bottom face of the end sill lies in a horizontal plane above the bottoms of the longitudinal sills, and a checkpiece secured to each longitudinal sill provided with a body portion secured to and ex= tending up between the longitudinal sill and a forwardly-projecting portion supporting the end sill to prevent it from tipping and provided with longitudinal and vertical flanges on the rear sides thereof engaging with the lower surface and ends of the longitudinal sill to transmit the bufflng strains to such sill, substantially as described.

4. In mechanisms of the class described, the combination of longitudinal sills, an end sill having the major diameter of its cross-section arranged in a horizontal plane and abutting against the ends of the longitudinal sills,

whereby the bottom face of the end sill lies in a horizontal plane above the bottoms of the longitudinal sills, and metal pieces se cured to and extending up between the longitudinal sills and forming sill-pockets secured to the longitudinal sills and provided with forwardly projecting portions passed underneath to support the end sill and prevent tipping or drooping of the same and to transmit strains of buffing and pulling to the longitudinal sills, substantially as described.

5. The combination with an end sill and longitudinal sills abutting thereagainst at their ends and having their bottom faces extended downwardly below the bottom face of the end sill, of sill-plates or draft-arms located between said longitudinal sills and secured thereto, said sill-plates or draft-arms having forwardly-extending portions extending beneath and supporting said end sill, substantially as described.

6. The combination with an end sill and longitudinal sills abutting thereagainst at their ends and having their bottom faces extended zontal flanges 71 below their tops adapted to engage the under faces of said longitudinal sills and also having substantially vertical flanges u adapted to engage the lower portions of the ends of the longitudinal sills, said sill-plates or draft-arms having portions extending forwardly beneath and supporting said end sill, substantially as described.

FRANK H. CLARK,

Witnesses:

THOMAS F. SHERIDAN, HARRY IRWIN CROMER. 

